Date: 27-05-07     Time: 15:00 UTC      Position: 31;52.41N  047:33.81W  

Distance last 24h: 125          Distance from Bermuda: 869           Distance to Flores: 916

Wind speed & direction: SE 8-10   Current COG, SOG: 042, 0.5 (stopped)  Waves: <1m   Barometer: 1026

Atlanterhavsseiling som det skal være! Sol, vinden akten for tvers, varmt, bølgehøyde på en halv meter, nok vind til å holde 5 knop med perioder opp i sju. Eneste grunnen til å reve er for å holde sammen med de andre båtene. Ikke bare det - men vi fikk en flott tunfisk i går som vi filleterte og delte i fire stykker. To til de sultne gutta på Anna, en ryggfilet til oss og til Seven. Ferskere får man ikke og smaken var helt topp. Synd at vi ikke kunne nyte en tørr hvit vin til maten - men vi kjøre en helt konsekvent linje ombord Nano når det er bare oss to ombord. Det var litt artig å få fisken over til Seven - som skulle sende mer pizza i retur som vi da fraktet til Anna. Båtene gikk for seil og rullet litt i sjøen så en viss avstand må holdes for å unngå at riggen krasjer i hverandre. Rønnaug siktet perfekt og traff midt i blinken da hun kastet posen med fisk over, og drog kastelina tilbake med en pose pizza på.

 

Nå er alt av sengetøy luftet, klær er tørket og et par små drypp fra en gummipakning rundt et vinduet er tettet. De dårlige dagene med motvind og kuling er glemt og vi håper bare at værmeldingene og hjelp fra værguruen Herb ska sørge for at vi ha god medvind resten av turen. Vi avsluttet døgnet med å fire seil, svømme i sjøen (23C, 500m dyp), dusje og stramme storseilfallet. Mens vi gjør dette innhenter Anna og Seven oss - de er et par mil bak oss men innhenter oss om en halv time.

 

Atlantic sailing as it should be was experienced by all the boats today. Sun, hot, wind from behind the beam, only half a metre of wave, enough wind to maintain 5 knots with periods up to 7. The only reason for reefing being to avoid getting too far from the other boats. Not just that, but we caught a lovely tuna today - about 2 kg I would guess (see picture). We filleted the fish into four pieces and gave the two belly filets to the hungry guys on Anna, keeping one back fillet for ourselves and the other for Seven. You will not get fresher fish than that - the taste was fantastic, though a nice dry white wine would have complemented the food, however we have a strict no alcohol policy when at sea with just the two of us. Getting the bag of fish over to the other boats while under way - and getting a bag of pizza back from Seven to give onwards to Anna, was quite a feat, being done under sail and with the boats rolling a little. One has to hold a reasonable distance to ensure that the masts don't collide if the boats roll towards each other at the same time - but Rønnaug had both great aim and length to her throw, and with limited time to untie the fish and tie the pizza on we did well to complete the operation in one pass.

 

Now all the bedclothes are aired, clothes and shoes dried and a small drip from a leaking window has been fixed. The bad days of headwinds and gales are soon forgotten and we only hope that the weather forecasts and information from the weather expert Herb will keep us in the places where the good winds are and avoid potential calm areas. We rounded off the 24 hour period by rolling away our sails, having a swim in the sea (23C, 5000m deep) while Seven and Anna catch up with us - they are still two miles behind us.